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What is the FYI Alumni Network?

 

Started in 2006 as a way to connect beyond their internship experience, the FYI Alumni Network serves as a way for past participants in the Congressional Foster Youth Internship Program to connect with one another. Through events and regular communication, the FYI Alumni Network operates much like an alumni association run by a college or university.  On a regular basis, members of the Alumni Network are able to communicate with each other about their ideas for positive changes in the foster care system, project collaborations, social networking and much more.  CCAI is also in communication with the Alumni Network each month with news about foster care and adoption legislation, project opportunities, and advice on improving the Congressional Foster Youth Internship Program.

 
 
About the FYI Alumni Network


FYI Alumni Continue to Advocate

 

Those who are familiar with CCAI's Foster Youth Internship program know that one of the program’s goals is to help former foster youth use their personal experience to advocate for improvement to the foster care system. One intern from last summer’s program, Trevon Smith, is truly a great example of this goal in action.


Trevon returned home to Los Angeles, CA at the end of his summer 2009 FYI program with his passion for reform reinvigorated and a newfound knowledge of child welfare policy. “I got back home and thought, ‘how can I be more active in this issue’?” says Trevon. He contacted Foster Care Alumni of America (FCAA) with the help of other FYIs from his year, John Paul Horn and Miranda Sheffield, in order to create a California chapter. “It was surprising to me that California didn’t have an FCAA chapter, being the largest state in the country in terms of number of children in care.” FCAA exists to the connect adults who grew up in foster care and to transform the policy and practice of foster care in America.  

Just a few weeks ago the FCAA California chapter was officially chartered. The Trevon and Miranda are now working to coordinate the election of officers to govern the chapter.  “California’s chapter will be unique in that since there are so many alumni from foster care and allies of foster care we are starting a Northern CA and a Southern CA subchapters.”  This will allow the chapter to have more officers to better represent the large number of members that they hope to recruit in the coming weeks.

Currently, there are around 20 existing members of alumni and allies, including several FYIs from years past. One of their newest members shares her experience with getting involved in the chapter, “I learned that the FCAA was actually a national organization and that California was in the process of starting its own chapter. I knew I had to be a part of it. I sent an email out that day requesting information on how to get involved. From that first email, I instantly felt like I was part of something. I was an “Alumni.” This title was only given to those who grew up as a foster child.  For the first time, my experience as a foster child was the reason I belonged, not the reason I didn’t.” She is now a strong advocate for improvements to the foster care system.


For more information, please visit the ‘Foster Care Alumni of America-CA Chapter’ Facebook group, or email Trevon at trevon.smith09@ gmail.com.



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